Association Football

Should Gooch stay on the bench against Ghana?

Shock and horror rang out at 9:25 am Eastern time yesterday when the USA lineup was announced and Coach Bob Bradley made the big decision to drop the struggling Oguchi Onyewu, move left back Carlos Bocanegra into the center, and fill his spot with Jonathan Bornstein. It was understandable but still brave to replace Gooch, but it was the insertion of Bornstein that caused the most dismay among American fans. The defense did not concede, but there were more early jitters and at least two moments when the US could have been punished for bad mistakes, saved once by the bar and another time by a dodgey offside flag. Ghana have only scored two goals in their first three games and both came from the penalty spot, but their attack is not lifeless and is predicated on quick transitions and runs from deep to create chances out of nothing. That favors a defense that is sharp and quick – qualities that Gooch has been lacking since his return from injury.

Gooch was clearly at fault for the second Slovenian goal and was at least implicated in the other two the US had allowed in the first two games. His decision making was both slow and faulty and he was repeatedly caught out. Those flaws are understandable as Gooch’s first full 90 minutes since October was the opener against England. In a must-win game in the group stage finale, Bradley decided he could afford no more mistakes and dropped the AC Milan defender. All credit to Bradley for making such a gutty decision. Continue reading →

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Donovan is the hero!

GOAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!

Wow. It looked like we were doomed. We had another perfectly good goal disallowed. We had chance after chance that just didn’t go in. Algeria had their chances on the break, but there was only going to be one winner. And we did it. What a goal. What a game. What a World Cup. What a day for US soccer.

The play had gotten really ragged through the last ten minutes. Not just stretched but choppy.

I can’t really describe my emotions right now. Just unbelievable.

So happy for Landon Donovan. He deserves it. We deserve it.

And we won the group! Let’s see what happens in the afternoon matches, but we could be in very good shape here.

Congratulations to our boys in South Africa. Congratulations to Bob Bradley for rolling the dice. Congratulations to American soccer fans. We’ve endured a lot. We go into the next round on an unbelievable high. Let’s do this!

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Stuart Holden should be inserted on right wing against Algeria

The joy at the second half comeback and the outrage at the mystery call that ruled out the potential winning goal now must take a back seat to fixing the problems that plagued the US in defense in the first two games and orient the side to take on Algeria in the last group game on Wednesday. Oguchi Onyewu has been exposed on the three goals, but the bigger culprit is way too much space between the two center backs and the central midfield. That problem must be solved, but the main threat from Algeria is their maurading left-sided players. Even though they are yet to score in the tournament, the US team must set up its eleven players to plug the holes from the first two games and stiffle Algeria’s attack.

All three goals the US conceded have come right through the middle of the park and resulted from way too much space between the central midfielders and the center backs. Onyewu’s positioning has been exposed on all three goals, but really only the Slovenian second was a genuine error (and what an error). On the England goal, he justifiably pushed out to mark an attacking player and opened up space behind him. On Slovenia’s first, he failed to close down a player in a similar area, perhaps still smarting from the England experience. We all know what happened for Slovenia’s second. Fortunately, this looks like rust after an eight month layoff because playing ten yards behind your line of defense thus keeping the most advanced attacking player onside is a youth soccer mistake. Let’s hope anyway. Continue reading →

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This post is an assessment of the second Slovenia goal – check back later for further analysis of what we should learn from these goals. See the breakdown of the first goal here and look for another post assessing what we have learned.

The second goal scored by Slovenia was the result of a great move by Slovenia as well as complete defensive breakdown by the US that began with Michael Bradley in the midfield and ended with Oguchi Onyewu in the central defense.

Second Goal: Scored by Slovenian striker #9 Ljubiankic. US Players at fault – Oguchi Onyewu, Michael Bradley, Jay Demerit. Watch it:

Part 1: Michael Bradley Fail – Slovenia win the ball in the midfield. Donovan loses the ball in a crowded midfield in Slovenia’s half of the center circle. Michael Bradley then rashly sprints forward to attempt to win the ball back. It is a gamble, since if he fails to win the ball the US midfield and the backline will be exposed. What is so shocking, is Bradley doesn’t even make a challenge – no instead he just tamely runs by the two Slovenian players that have actually bumped into each other on the ball. In fact, my description is not harsh enough on Bradley. His effort to break up the play was naive and lackadaisical. He gets his angles all wrong, such that by the time that Bradley and the Slovenian midfielder on the ball are level with each other, the Slovenian is already a yard above Bradley and therefore away into space in the midfield. Bradley is so far out of the play as it advances he ends up being behind Donovan and Dempsey.
Continue reading →

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This post an assessment of the first goal – check back later for an analysis of the second goal and for another post assessing what we have learned.

While it was a great comeback for the USA, the two goals it gave up in the first half were the result of good play from Slovenia and absolutely shocking defending from the US. Both goals scored were not the result of just one US player – they were result of multiple defensive breakdowns, beginning with the midfield and ending with the backline.

Slovenia’s First Goal: Scored by right midfielder Birsa. US players most at fault – Oguchi Onyewu, Landon Donovan, Carlos Bocanegra, Michael Bradley/Jose Torres, Tim Howard. Watch the goal:

Part 1: The move begins. Slovenia play a ball into the channel toward their left corner flag, which Demerit rightly challenges. This however leaves him out of position and requires Steve Cherundolo to cover at the centerback position, which he does effectively. Slovenia’s #9 Ljubiankic, who recovers the ball in the corner, is forced to play the ball back. The US defensively gets organized, with only Cherundolo and Demerit out of place.
Continue reading →

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Ref Koman Coulibaly Robs US with "Shocking Decision"

What a game! The best match of the World Cup so far. Day 8 has brought the tournament to life and England v Algeria still have to play. But even though the second half should give the US team a great deal of confidence, a truly bizarre refereeing decision kept this game at a draw and leaves the US plenty of work to do against Algeria on Wednesday. After the US had stormed back to draw level, the Malian referee somehow saw an infraction on one of the American players just before half-time sub Maurice Edu slotted home from Landon Donovan’s perfect free kick. It has to rank as one of the most egregious  mistakes in World Cup play as it was error of commission rather than omission, he saw a foul that wasn’t there rather than missing a call. The US has been victim to poor and extremely consequential decisions in each of the last three World Cups – tough to view all of this as a coincidence. 

For the neutral, this eighth day of the World Cup must have been amazing. For the partisan, the nerves are jangling. After watching German fall flat against Serbia – helped along by some strange officiating in that game too – opening up the second round possibilities for the two teams that advance out of Group C, the US team began play as if they had never seen each other or a soccer ball before. The Slovenes had acres of space and scored two goals from what can only be described as shocking defending.  But it set up a dramatic fight back by the US in a pulsating second half that saw two goals for the US but more chances for both teams. Michael Bradley poking home from Altidore’s knock down set up a remarkable finish with the US on the front foot but still looking vulnerable in defense. Continue reading →

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There are two US teams. One showed up in the first half. The other in the second.

In the first half the US came in as favorites to win, a psychological position which the US simply does not know how to deal with. The team was lethargic throughout the first half. Defensively the team left huge gaps in space (which led to both goals), midfielders weren’t working hard to win back the ball when Slovenia was in possession, and when we had the ball no one was moving off the ball.

Bob Bradley got the tactics all wrong. The US strategy offensively was to play deep balls in the channels or wide areas where speedy players like Robbie Findley or Jozy Altidore could get on to the ball. This was why the backline players were constantly booting the ball up field. This utterly failed. Slovenia played deep and compact – if the balls were won there was rarely space to do much with them, but the Slovenes are huge most aerial balls were easily dealt with. We were essentially playing counterattacking football against a team that sat back deep.

But then in the second half, the US could play as they mentally like to play – as a team with their backs against the wall. This really is the “don’t tread on me” team, a group that thrives on being counted out and being the underdog. Before the game I noted this match would be a test of the US team’s maturity: could they win when they were supposed to. The answer is not yet. When we play top teams in the world we show up with a chip on our shoulder and put it all out there. We play with something to prove. But we simply don’t know how to play as favorites.

So in the second half, the US went for it.

Bradley made some great tactical substitutions in the second half, as Maurice Edu and Benny Feilhaber replaced the ineffective Jose Torres and Robbie Findley. They brought more fluidity to the midfield and the addition of Edu allowed Bradley to take off Onyewu late for another striker. That was well managed.

Landon Donovan the US captain had what could be the goal of the tournament just a few minutes into the second half. This raised US spirits and they went on to create a number of good chances. The second goal, which seemed inevitable, but also seemed like it would take an eternity to come was worked and saw Michael Bradley – a regular goal scorer – make a truly composed finish.

In the end, the US was robbed – as it so often is in international tournaments. The referees overall had a shocking game. On every free kick the referees allowed Slovenia to blatently tackle the American players, which could have quite easily been called as penalties. Jozy Altidore was denied a goal scoring chance, but instead of red the Slovene defender was received a yellow. But the referees however saved the worst for last. The US scored the third and winning goal but the linesman flagged for offsides. The only thing one can fathom was that he saw Michael Bradley, who was being tackled, ahead of the play, but Bradley had no involvement in the resulting goal. It was shocking. And Bob Bradley should make a lot of noise about the US constantly getting hosed in big international tournaments.

This in the end is a very good result from the US. But against Algeria the US will again be the favorites. This time a draw won’t due – it is must win and the US cannot show up as the lethargic team we saw in the first half. We need the “don’t tread on me” team from the get go.

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